The former Fort Worth police officer who shot and killed Atatiana Jefferson inside her home was found guilty of manslaughter on Thursday, Dec. 15, 2022.
Ex-cop Aaron Dean was found guilty of shooting and killing Jefferson through a side window in her home during a non-emergency welfare check in October 2019.
Jefferson’s nephew told jurors on the stand that Jefferson opened the front door after he burned some hamburgers in order to air out the home, USA Today reported. They were reportedly playing video games as neighbors called the cops to do a welfare check on the home. It was after the officers’ arrival that things turned deadly.
Jefferson was legally in possession of the gun when she grabbed it after she and her nephew heard noises coming from the side of the home. Jefferson reportedly thought they were being burglarized. Neither the nephew nor Dean’s partner saw Jefferson raise the gun before Dean killed Jefferson with a single shot to the chest
Ironically, the death of Jefferson came just two weeks after another cop, former Dallas officer Amber Guyger, was found guilty of murdering Botham Jean in his apartment in Dallas. Guyger was sentenced to 10 years in prison.
Then-Police Chief Ed Kraus told the media that there was “absolutely no excuse. for the shooting,” and former Fort Worth Mayor Betsy Price called it “unjustified.”
Dean almost immediately resigned from the police department and was charged with murder, shortly after the FWPD released the video of the shooting death to the public. The trial had been delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic and the fact that Dean was beset with a serious illness.
